1. Major Disorders:
Mood

2. Mood Disorders
Emotional extremes of mood disorders come in two principal forms
Major depressive disorder
Bipolar disorder
OBJECTIVE 12| Define mood disorders, and contrast major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

3. Seasonal Affective Disorder
Experience depression during the winter months
Based not on temperature, but on amount of sunlight
Treated with light therapy

5. Major Depressive Disorder
Depression is the “common cold” of psychological disorders
Leading cause of disability worldwide
In a year, 5.8% of men and 9.5% of women report depression worldwide
Major depressive disorder occurs when signs of depression last two weeks or more and are not caused by drugs or medical conditions
Signs include:
Lethargy and fatigue
Feelings of worthlessness
Loss of interest in family & friends
Loss of interest in activities

6. Major Depressive Disorder
By many accounts, depression is under diagnosed and under treated.
Globally speaking, studies indicate that depression is the single most prevalent disability.
While some differences may be a result of reporting, other factors seem to be at work too:
Taiwan/Korea = low divorce rate
Lebanon = war in Middle East
Lifetime Risk of a Depressive Episode lasting a Year or More
Taiwan
1.5%
Korea
2.9%
Puerto Rico
4.3%
U.S.
5.2%
Germany
9.2%
Canada
9.6%
New Zealand
11.6%
France
16.4%
Lebanon
19%

7. Beck’s Basics
Aaron Beck suggests that depression is a result of negative thinking which he called ‘cognitive errors’ (errors in logic)
Beck identified three negative thoughts that seemed to be really automatic and occurred without delay in depressed patients. The “Cognitive Triad:”
Self
External World
Future
Beck believes that faulty thinking leads to depression. The question remains though, which came first, the depression or the faulty thoughts.

8. Dysthymic Disorder
Dysthymic disorder lies between a blue mood and major depressive disorder
It is a disorder characterized by daily depression lasting two years or more
Down in the dumps mood
Chronic low energy, low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, and sleep and eat too little or too much
Major Depressive
Disorder
Blue
Mood
Dysthymic

10. Depression Cycle Negative stressful events.
Pessimistic explanatory style.
Hopeless depressed state.
These hamper the way the individual thinks and acts, fueling personal rejection.

11. Explanatory style plays a major role in becoming depressed.
Example
Explanatory style plays a major role in becoming depressed.

12. The Baby Blues
Maternity (Baby) Blues: Mild depression that lasts for one to two days after childbirth
Marked by crying, fitful sleep, tension, anger, and irritability
Brief and not too severe

13. Postpartum Depression
Postpartum Depression: Moderately severe depression that begins within three months following childbirth
Marked by mood swings, despondency, feelings of inadequacy, and an inability to cope with the new baby
May last from two months to one year
Part of the problem may be hormonal

17. Inability to make decisions
Bipolar Disorder
Formerly called manic-depressive disorder
An alternation between depression and mania signals bipolar disorder
Overactive, elated, little need for sleep, few sexual inhibitions, loud, and flighty
What goes up MUST come down
Bipolar I Disorder: Extreme mania and deep depression; one type of manic-depressive illness
Bipolar II Disorder: Person is mainly sad but has one or more hypomanic episodes (mild mania)
Multiple ideas
Hyperactive
Desire for action
Euphoria
Elation
Manic Symptoms
Slowness of thought
Tired
Inability to make decisions
Withdrawn
Gloomy
Depressive Symptoms

18. The Depressed Brain
PET scans show that brain energy consumption rises and falls with manic and depressive episodes

19. Milder forms have free flowing thinking and fuel creativity
Bipolar Disorder
Mania has maladaptive symptoms such as high optimism and self-esteem, recklessness
Milder forms have free flowing thinking and fuel creativity
Many great writers, poets, and composers suffered from bipolar disorder
During their manic phase creativity surged, but not during their depressed phase
Whitman
Wolfe
Clemens
Hemingway

20. Neurotransmitters & Depression
A reduction of norepinephrine and serotonin has been found in depression
Drugs that alleviate mania reduce norepinephrine
Pre-synaptic
Neuron
Serotonin
Norepinephrine
Post-synaptic
Neuron

22. Explaining Mood Disorders
Since depression is so prevalent worldwide, investigators want to develop a theory of depression that will suggest ways to treat it
Lewinsohn et al., note that a theory of depression should explain the following:
Behavioral and cognitive changes
Common causes of depression
Gender differences
Depressive episodes self-terminate.
Depression is increasing, especially in the teens.
OBJECTIVE 13| Discuss the facts that an acceptable theory of depression must explain.

23. Suicide
The most severe form of behavioral response to depression is suicide
Each year some 1 million people commit suicide worldwide
National differences
Racial differences
Gender differences
Age differences
Other differences
Suicide Statistics

24. Causes of Mood Disorders
Psychological Views
Psychoanalytic - as children, they suffered a loss of a loved one. Child repressed anger, leading to guilt & loss of self-esteem, finally depression.
Learning Theorist - (Learned Helplessness) people have learned that previous negative events in their lives were out of their control - leads them to expect future events to be out of their control too.
Psychological view -- as a child, they suffered a real or imagined loss of a loved object or person. The child feels anger toward the lost object or person, but, instead of expressing the anger, internalizes it and directs it toward himself or herself. This leads to feelings of guilt and loss of self-esteem, which in turn lead to depression..
= Learning Theorist -(Learned Helplessness) people have learned through experience to believe that previous events in their lives were out of their control, leading them to expects future events will be out of their control as well. As a result, whenever a negative events occur, these people feel helpless, and this leads to depression.
A study was done with dogs in which a psychologist taught dogs learned helplessness - in this case that they were helpless in escaping from an electric shock. He placed a barrier in the dogs cage to prevent them from leaving when shocks were administered. Later he removed the barrier, however when the the shocks were administered again, the dogs made no effort to escape. They had apparently learned they were helpless to anything to prevent the pain.

25. Causes of Mood Disorders
Cognitive Theorist - Depressed people have negative views of themselves from bad experiences in childhood. They now filter any positive info in their lives
Biological Views - People w/depression may have lower levels of serotonin & noradrenaline. Genetic influences
Both - two work together, cycling downward
OBJECTIVE 15| Summarize the contribution of the social-cognitive perspective to the study of depression, and describe the events in the cycle of depression.
OBJECTIVE 14| Summarize the contribution of the biological perspective to the study of depression, and discuss the link between suicide and depression.
= • Cognitive Theorist - Depressed people have negative views of themselves from negative experiences in childhood. They now tend to filter out the positive information in their lives. They Also perceive negative information more negative than it really is.
Biological - Mood disorders tend to occur more often in close relatives. Similar research with twins have shown similar results.
People with depression seem to have lower levels of serotonin and noradrenaline. These are two neurotransmitters in the brain that is involved with emotion and mood.
Both - Going back to the dog example that learned they were helpless to escape electric shocks. They also had less noradrenaline in their brains. Helplessness is linked to lower levels of noradrenaline. So the relationship may be a vicious cycle: a depressing situation may slow the production of noradrenaline in the brain, therefore depressing a person even more.

26. Social-Cognitive Perspective
The social-cognitive perspective suggests that depression arises partly from self-defeating beliefs and negative explanatory styles